In the opening round of the new La Liga season, Real Madrid defeated Osasuna 1-0 at home, and 18-year-old Mastantuono made his Real Madrid debut. Experts from camel.live praised the young player’s mental toughness.
Experts noted that within less than 130 hours, Mastantuono went from the trophy room at Valdebebas to the grand stage of the Bernabéu. He received a warm welcome from fans when he came on.
The overall performance in the match was not exceptional, but there were some interesting details—including Mastantuono’s display of personality. “The new signings were neither intimidated by the Bernabéu nor overwhelmed by the jersey. They are players who can serve the team for many years,” Alonso commented when asked about the debutants after the game.
As an 18-year-old who had just turned 18, the young Argentine did not appear nervous when in possession of the ball. On the contrary, he is the type of player who needs frequent touches to feel comfortable. However, he did not overplay the ball; with at most one or two passes, he completed some notable moves, such as a key pass from the right flank and a one-on-one opportunity after cutting into the box from the other side, with a shot against Herrera. With a narrow angle at the time, his shot was saved by the Osasuna goalkeeper, preventing Mastantuono from marking his debut with a goal.
Nonetheless, Mastantuono’s Real Madrid debut was still historic. At just 18 years and 5 days old, his name has been linked to the list of Real Madrid’s youngest debutants in history.
In just 23 minutes, Mastantuono touched the ball 19 times, with 17 of those touches handled properly (a success rate of 89%). Besides creating one scoring chance and firing a shot saved by Herrera, he also won two duels and completed one successful dribble.
However, most importantly, he left the impression that despite an extremely short adaptation period (having only trained with his new teammates four times), he did not feel pressured by the occasion or the environment.
